OPM Data Breach Lawsuit Tossed, Fed Plaintiffs will Appeal

Federal employees plan to appeal a judge's decision stating they cannot sue for damages from the 2015 Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data breach, The Washington Times reported this week.

The workers won't be able to sue because they cannot show the stolen data has been used by attackers, said US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson. Compromised information includes sensitive personal details like financial and health data, taken from about 22 million personnel files. Experts have not been able to determine whether the stolen data was sold or used.

Judge Jackson's ruling is getting pushback from employee labor unions, which had filed a class action lawsuit to help workers whose data had been stolen and force the government to better protect information. The National Treasury Employees Union announced plans to appeal on Sept. 19; the American Federation of Government Employees National is debating the next steps.

OPM responded to the data breach with new security tools and launched multi-factor authentication for employees. The agency also made plans to hire a cybersecurity advisor.

Read more details here.

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